Dance Appreciation Thread

[Janet]

What does the DANCE mean to you?

[goldustsongbird]

Originally Posted by Janet

What does the DANCE mean to you?

One word: Christine.

Actually, quite a bit. It's the first full Mac performance I ever really saw (first one was the Rhiannon Rosebud video, which got me hooked), and even with all of the overdubbing and everything.

To be honest, before I owned The Dance, I didn't care much for Christine. I was all about Stevie, but watching it, I was like, "Woah". (And yes, I'll admit, at first, I based it purely on physical appearance-- The cover was enough. She looks smokin'). Seeing her onstage, even if she didn't always look all that enthusiastic, made me appreciate her and her voice a lot more. So, really, I credit The Dance for making me a fan. Now I can't get enough of her!

Not to ignore the rest of them... It was nice to hear Stevie hitting those high notes again, and that performance of Silver Springs is always the winner for me. I like it better than the LIB version. Lindsey sounds better here too, than on LIB. Big Love always sounds strained on there. Here, not so much. And I really enjoy Go Insane. It was also nice to hear then-new songs, and different takes on older songs (like Say You Love Me-- With "John McVie on vocals!")

Seeing them all together on stage (and even listening to the bootlegs from the tour) made me appreciate their sound as a whole. Listening to them now is just as enjoyable, but without the missing link in the chain (Okay, sorry, cheesiness abounds), there's something lacking.

[Brwn_eyes0511]

Originally Posted by goldustsongbird

One word: Christine.

She IS The Dance!

[DZgirlie]

The Dance got me hooked. I didn't even know who Fleetwood Mac was. My mother made me sit and watch "what she grew up with". I was 12 and wanted no part of it.
I fell in love. It was a slow process, that has since turned into some wicked obsession. I was in awe of the woman with the long blonde hair. That's what got me.
And after watching it from beginning to end, it's amazing. I look back now, and wish that things were how they were then. The voices, the looks, the feeling you get from watching it. Although I still get the goosebumps, and the gasp caught in the throat at the end of Silver Springs.
It was an amazing time, and I think we can all go back, and re-live it all and watch it as if we were seeing it for the first time all over again.
<3

[goldustsongbird]

Originally Posted by Brwn_eyes0511

She IS The Dance!

Indeed!

[johndoe]

The Dance was like the launching pad for me. I knew who Stevie Nicks was, but none of her songs. I'd heard a ton of Fleetwood Mac songs, but never knew it was them. But I needed "Landslide" for one of my projects about this book I was reading, when they mentioned that the main character loved that song, and it was the symbolisim of the book. I knew my mom had an FM CD lying around (I remembered saying,"So his names Lindsey, and hers is Stevie?! LAWLZ!"). But I saved it to the computer, and say Go Your Own Way, which I saw on some rent a car commercial at the time, and Don't Stop, which I knew. And I started listening to it, really embarassed that I was travelling away from Zeppelin and The Who to listen to Fleetwood Mac. My friends acted like I came out of the closet. But from there I bought Rumours, and had to get used to the jump from the live editions to the studio editions (It doesn't seem to different for all of you who started hearing the studio versions, but its kind of a shock when you hear the Dance versions first). But The Dance was what got me started.

[Lala]

I was just getting into them 2 and a half years ago. I was really bummed one day cuz my friend went away to college and my mom bought it for me to cheer me up. I watched it and was in awe. It cheered me up and Gypsy reminded me of my friend and made me want to cry.

Nothing beats the first time...

[Jyqm]

Originally Posted by johndoe

The Dance was like the launching pad for me.

Same here. I was... damn, fourteen? when it first started airing on TV. I happened to see the video for "Silver Springs" on MTV one morning over the summer. Not only was this just an achingly beautiful rock ballad, but man, that lady's kinda hot and she's singing with such guts. And that wonderfully understated guitar solo...

I mentioned the reunion to my dad (it was actually fairly heavily publicized on MTV at the time - Fleetwood Mac getting back together was a big deal), and he bought the cassette tape of The Dance, which we would listen to in the car in the mornings in the fall when he drove me and my brother to school. There was only time to listen to a couple of songs, though, so it was always "Silver Springs" and "You Make Loving Fun" for a while. Then I figured out that if I turned the tape over after "Silver Springs," it was in the middle of "Rhiannon" on the other side. Then I figured out that after "Rhiannon" was this bitching guitar rock out!

Anyway, eventually I bought the CD for myself (got the VHS for Christmas and watched it constantly for a couple of days).

Then I bought all the other Rumours-era CDs. (It took me a while to figure out Tusk. I didn't get it, and even Stevie's songs disappointed me at first.)

Then I bought Enchanted when it came out and fell in love with all of that,and went to see Stevie on the tour. (I never saw the Dance tour - at the time, dad made the argument: why do we need to go to an expensive concert when it's gonna be just like this live CD? Yeah, thanks a lot, dad.)

Then I bought that wacky album with the big monkey on the cover...

Then I listened to "Oh Well" from Live at the Boston Tea Party 2 in Borders...

And now, here we are. And actually, The Dance didn't just get me into Fleetwood Mac, it also led me to start exploring all kinds of 60s and 70s rock throughout high school. So it was a pretty good springboard for me.

[danax6]

Originally Posted by Brwn_eyes0511

She IS The Dance!

Yeah, just keep telling yourself that. (pst, your cd is on its way)

The Dance made me fall in love with the Mac completely, whereas I merely had a crush before I saw it. If that makes any sense.

[Boots]

Sorry - this turned out to be a big post - but I'm new here, and have waited so long to post, that all my built up thoughts are just spilling out....warning...turn away, run like the wind if you don't want to read a novel.

"The Dance" for me was almost like a small rock and roll miracle. After years of witnessing this line up of Fleetwood Mac go through love affairs, drug and alcohol addiction, creative difference, industry excess and ego, it was a coup that these 5 individuals - Stevie and Lindsey especially - were able to get together and sing again.

For me, knowing how much Lindsey couldn't stand Stevie for so long, and knowing how cautious Stevie was of Lindsey all these years of he not speaking to her - made seeing them connect during the show, and during "Landslide" especially, a blow-my-mind experience. I blubbered uncontrollably back in '97, and am still in tears when I see it today. There they were - 20+ years since that song was written by a young Stevie pondering her love for Lindsey - after all they'd been through - singing it again. To me, the only true performance of the song is when Lindsey plays it alongside her. No one else. That's their song. Sorry Dixie Chicks..no way. Sorry Billy Corgan, I love ya...but nah. When she sang that last verse, and they paused and looked at each other, almost as if to say.."Can you believe we're doing this after all these years?" with tears and love in their eyes...FRIENDS AGAIN? Holy crap...that was priceless.

Another thing that totally blew my mind back then was the re-appearance of "Silver Springs". Some of the post-Dance fans might not understand how difficult it was to find that song throughout the years. It used to be played by DJ's on FM radio, back in the old days of FM radio, when the DJ was like a friend, only speaking to you. (And by FM - I don't mean Fleetwood Mac - I mean the band/frequency). They'd play this beautiful treasure called "Silver Springs", and talk about how Mac had to leave it off the Rumours album because of lack of room. It showed up on various albums, but it was an ellusive song....and so gorgeous...that it made you want to hunt it down even more. It was on the B side of the single "Go Your Own Way", but for some reason - after a while, I think they didn't issue the single with that B-side song anymore. Whatever the case - I always had trouble finding it until it was released on the Mac box set "many a year ago" (to quote Stevie).

Then suddenly, here comes "The Dance", and those beautiful piano chords of Christine's, waving over the opening bar, and we hear the beautiful "Silver Springs", sung by an older and wiser Stevie, sounding more remorseful than the young woman we hear in the original recording. It's slower, sadder, more recriminating than ever before, as she sings to Lindsey, admonishing him...ripping him a new one...so to speak. It's a catharsis...I'm shaking and crying still - after 9 years of watching this performance. And you could tell, in every part of her being, that after all those lost years, she still held these feelings that needed to be expressed to him. During the whole "Dance", she always looked to Lindsey, not just to keep time with the harmonies, but as an anchor.

And that just blew me away.

Let's get this straight. I adore Buckingham/Nicks as a duo and individuals. I root for their friendship and any romance because they are like old friends to me, whom I love, and want to see happy. Yet, although I'm more of a Buckingham/Nicks era Fleetwood Mac fan, I don't want to just dwell on them. The whole band sounded incredibly tight during this performance. Obvious, due to the professional surroundings and the extra back up singers and session men. However, seeing the joy in Mick's face - the grandaddy of the drums - that lovely wide eyed, open mouth jubilation he expressed with every pound of the drum...oh man...that was worth the wait. Thank God he found his way out of all the drug crap, and is lucid and wonderful again. He's such a lovable rocker....may he and the Mac live on. And, my LORD, Christine just looked and sounded smashing. How I miss her on "Say You Will". Her talent and voice were and are such an important dynamic in this band. And I swear I cannot hear John McVie's voice on "Say You Love Me", but amen to him. He's a quiet soul, and it's his signature bass lines that keep this group thumping.

That's "The Dance" to me.

[chiliD]

Ok, sorry to pee on the parade, but, for me, The Dance wasn't a joyful experience.

Once the "wow" of those five people being on stage together again went away (very quickly, as well), I just felt like it was "the beginning of the end" of Fleetwood Mac.

For 30 years, Fleetwood Mac's mantra was "keep trudging on", keep moving forward...with The Dance, they took a giant leap backwards. With one fell swoop of The Dance they became a nostalgia act.

[Jyqm]

Welcome, Boots! That was a wonderful post, I hope you plan on sharing many more of your thoughts with the rest of us!

Originally Posted by Boots

And I swear I cannot hear John McVie's voice on "Say You Love Me", but amen to him. He's a quiet soul, and it's his signature bass lines that keep this group thumping.

It's there! But since he's just scatting the bass line while also playing the bass guitar, it's a wee bit difficult to pick out.

[Sahara]

The Dance is just extraordinary. It's amazing how many people have said it turned them into big fans -- I'm in that category too.

My Mum got SYW and I loved it to bits, and a few weeks afterwards I saw the Dance DVD in a record shop, persuaded Mum to buy it "for both of us" and ... well ... the rest is history.

The songs obviously are great but the chemistry on the DVD is what astounds me most. Silver Springs was phenomenal and it inspired me so much to completely change my creative writing style and I never once have looked back.

[mylittledemon]

The Dance started it all for me! I was learning to play guitar back in '96, and hearing the Dance for the first time I think was October 97. My brother was really into them 1st and had bought the CD. I think the first couple of tracks that just threw me back where The Chain, So Afraid, Bleed to Love Her, and Silver Springs. And of course, Landslide. The fingerpicking on that is beautiful.

I remember going out before Thanksgiving that year, and my mom buying me the green "Greatest Hits" C. I was surprised to find that I knew most of the songs. I didn't know they sang "Gypsy" and "Hold Me." My dad likes the pre Lindsey/Stevie better, and tried to get me into that to less avail. I got the Dance on VHS for Christmas that year I think too.

[macfan 57]

Originally Posted by goldustsongbird

One word: Christine.

Me too, of course. The whole thing was a big surprise. I never thought we'd ever see the Rumours line-up again. It was a fantastic way to end Fleetwood Mac for me.